Comments for Mobhunter.com

Comment on So, What Have You Been Playing Lately, Steve? by SmakenDahed

SmakenDahed — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:14:16 +0000

I’ll have to disagree on the GW2 questing style. I like the personal quests in GW2 but once those sort of ran out, I just felt like I was wandering from spot to spot, doing heart quests, collecting vistas or talents while waiting for an event to trigger/start.

It sounds like there was a lot to do, but it wasn’t things I enjoyed for a length of time. Vista jump puzzles? Bleh. Talent/trait battles? Pretty much a stomp the NPC with all the other people there to get their trait (in the odd occasion it was more about clicking on a spot). The events, themselves, weren’t all that spectacular and were pretty repetitive.

Don’t get me wrong, in no way am I saying WoW questing is better – it isn’t. I just don’t think GW2′s mechanism warrants the credit it is getting… unless you’re an explorer type. It really caters well to people that like exploring.

I’m still waiting for something that suites me.

Comment on Satisfying Psychological Needs by Moorgard

Moorgard — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:35:07 +0000

To be clear, I wasn’t complaining about dungeon finder. I have been playing a fair amount of WoW again lately, and I use it a lot–especially at lunch time. It’s extremely good at what it does, particularly with the layers of polish about putting you back exactly where you left off in the “regular” world.

I’m just pointing out that it’s a tradeoff. You are sacrificing relatedness for content accessibility. I’m not saying it’s a bad trade; clearly WoW does just fine with it. I’m just saying it’s a conscious design choice that goes beyond the arguments I often hear against it, like how it ruins exploration or the sense of worldliness.

Comment on Satisfying Psychological Needs by Naladini

Naladini — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:26:59 +0000

The balancing act is sizing the MMO so “bite sized” content runs of 30 minutes or less isn’t considered a cop-out or a let-down in some way. WoW’s concept of the “lunch time battleground” was a very good one and a huge part of it’s initial success.

Quick, Automated grouping is part of what enables that. Running LDoN, a strong group could clear some missions in 30 minutes, and you could string 2-3 sessions together relatively quickly. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? How long did it take you to assemble that strong group? Have trouble finding a healer, wipe a couple of times, etc, and you’re at 90 minutes and haven’t done anything yet besides get frustrated with the random folks you’ve manually paired yourself with.

The real problem in the equation is that there’s a decent chunk of players who *need* the automated functions to properly experience content in the game in the time they have. Then, you get the min-max crowd jumping in as well because its just faster.

Limiting the number of runs you can make in instances, particularly for free players, is one option. Not enabling some instances for auto-grouping is another. To do it right though, you have to allow some extra time to move content into the queuing system as new stuff gets released.

And I don’t care if its an old fashioned pick up group or an automated match maker, the odds of me not talking are low.

Comment on Acceptance by Overly Positive » The Light At The End Of Gaming’s 2012 Tunnel

Overly Positive » The Light At The End Of Gaming’s 2012 Tunnel — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 04:40:44 +0000

[...] closure of studios, most prominent and painful among them the shutdown of 38 Studios/Big Huge Games. The morgue includes what appear to be 20+ studios in 2012 shutting their [...]

Comment on Taking It on the Chin by owlchick

owlchick — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:30:16 +0000

You’re a nice guy, no matter what I say about you elsewhere. Hugs

Comment on Taking It on the Chin by [News] TSW drops subscription charges, Layoffs at Trion « Welcome to Spinksville!

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 12:48:10 +0000

[...] is certainly turning out as an anno horribilis for the gaming industry, in the West at least. Moorgard notes that he has friends who have spent the year moving from one layoff to the next; I can only feel for [...]

Comment on Back in the Saddle by Galidin

Galidin — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:07:06 +0000

I was board member 498 at sigil and like you was crushed to see how it turned out especially after early beta first time logging in I said to a friend “this is going to be huge.”

I wish you all the best luck and glad to see you back in development! I thoroughly encourage you rip off err pay homage to guild wars 2 because that game has done a great job at some core mmo problems.

Galidin.

P.S. update mobhunter headshot progression with moorgard ala vanguard.

Comment on Back in the Saddle by Moorgard

Moorgard — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:35:14 +0000

I actually enjoy the change of seasons–even winter, in reasonable doses. So the lack of snow was not one of my motivating factors. :p

Comment on Back in the Saddle by Naladini

Naladini — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 21:36:31 +0000

Congrats on the gig in familiar surroundings. You didn’t even throw in the lack of a winter season as a reason to head back to San Diego in October, that’s probably a good sign.

Comment on Back in the Saddle by Exmortis

Exmortis — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:11:26 +0000

Since your taking over the lead, I have for the first time in years had a real sense of confidence in Vanguards direction and future.

Welcome aboard.